The Art of Farming by T.D. Motley

 

THE ART OF FARMING: A NOVEL

by T.D. MOTLEY

Fiction / Agriculture / Nature / Stewardship

Publisher: Stoney Creek Publishing

Pages: 144

Publication Date: August 26, 2024

SYNOPSIS

Sam Bartlett’s formidable antagonist has four legs. Sol, a miniature donkey, schemes daily to outwit his kindly caretaker. This delightful rural drama regales a symbiosis of plants, humans, dogs, and livestock, with wild creatures observing from secluded, weedy perimeters.  

Retired from teaching, artist Sam farms thirty acres. His popular paintings of vast prairies at sunset are selling well. He plans to market organic herbs and produce, hiring local after-school teens. Begrudgingly raised on a farm, he once swore that when he grew up, he’d never go back. Time and age break promises. 

Elysia boasts a pretty town square, complete with a handsome county courthouse. Sam’s girlfriend, Annie, is a food writer who travels a lot. Bartlett Farm is her sanctuary. 

The Art of Farming is a hopeful tale about stewardship of the land, the animals, and of each other. It honors the integrity of agriculture, as expressed in ancient literature and art. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

T.D. Motley writes about art and organic farming. Born in Beaumont, Texas, he has been drawing since the age of three. His family has farmed in Texas since the mid-19th century. For many years, he and his wife, artist Rebecca, marketed their organic, heirloom herbs and produce to North Texas chefs and farmers' market customers.

Motley is Professor Emeritus of Art and Art History at Dallas College. His drawings and paintings have been exhibited nationally and are included in numerous collections across the U.S. and Texas. He has lectured at the Dallas Museum of Art, the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum in Austin, the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University, and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth. He is a contributing author for Eutopia and ArtSpiel and has written about mid-century modern Texas artists for DB/Zumbeispiel and the Grace Museum in Abilene. Motley has received Fulbright grants to Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Motley is the past president of the board of Artist Boat, a Galveston-based nonprofit that teaches students about coastal nature through art and science. He served for several years as chair of the North Texas Fulbright Teacher Exchange Peer Review Committee. Previously, he worked as a printer in the U.S. Air Force, an illustrator for Ling-Temco-Vought Corporation, and a cartoonist for the infamous Dallas Notes from the Underground newspaper. His artworks can be seen at J. Peeler Howell Fine Art in Fort Worth.

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REVIEW

The Art of Farming’s cover, with the muted blues, oranges, and charcoal grays, felt familiar before I ever opened its pages. The waning sunset in the wide-open sky called to mind those I see every night when weather permits and I take the time to bear witness to the closing of day.

It’s a fitting reminder graces the cover, as The Art of Farming is a study in embracing a more intentional lifestyle. As I read, I found myself relaxing into the book’s slower pace of life, one governed by the rhythms of the earth’s turning and the ebb and flow of seasons. A pattern, according to the author, “...that humans and animals carry in their heads.”

Motley’s lyrical prose drew me from chapter to chapter, with phrases that I highlighted and whispered to myself, letting them swirl in my mouth like a fine wine, savoring their flavor and depth. One of my favorites: “A single, thread-like line of pale powder-blue could be seen just above the horizon, the last of daylight’s evidence waning.”

While I don’t have the gifts required to be a true gardener, namely patience and desire to perform the rigorous daily tasks to make it successful, my husband does. In fact, gardening is one of his greatest joys, along with sketching and painting. My experience watching him toil over each created an obvious connection with this story. So many of art professor-turned-farmer Samuel Beckett’s adventures echoed the ones I’ve witnessed my spouse experience.

Many of them are humorously frustrating battles with critters bent on devouring the spoils before they’re ready to be harvested, while others are hard-earned lessons about the futility of “imposing uncompromising obedience…upon natural, growing things.”

Of course, we can’t forget the endearing Sol, Samuel’s persnickety donkey, or the string of well-loved dogs who each left their mark on the hearts of all who knew them.

Motley has captured the measured pace of small-town farming life in a story that reminds me that even in my busiest moments, I only have to step outside and pay attention to tune into the natural cadence that quietly runs the world.

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